The Ohio State women’s basketball team awoke to the second half of the Big Ten season with no choice other than to begin cleaning up the storm damage from the first eight conference games.

The Buckeyes (11-10, 1-7) reached the midway point with a 62-53 loss to Nebraska and uncomfortably share last place with Indiana (10-11, 1-7).

Those two teams play this afternoon in Bloomington, with the loser earning the dubious honor of at least temporary outright ownership of the league’s basement apartment.

“This is a whole new feeling for me and a lot of the other girls,” junior center Ashley Adams said. “We’ve never been on a team that’s going the way we’re going now.

“It’s not annoying. It’s more frustrating because we know what we have to do and we’re just not getting it done.”

The breakdowns have occurred on both ends of the court. The Buckeyes are averaging 64.9 points in Big Ten play and shooting a frigid 40.9 percent from the field. That number dips to a glacial 24.5 percent on three-pointers.

Defensively, Ohio State is allowing 70.9 points per game.The bruised numbers add up to seven losses and an unhappy fan base. Adams has heard the grumbles.

“Everybody criticizes me about not shooting,” Adams said. “Anybody that watches the games (does). It’s something that I need to do. I understand that I need to do that for us to win.”

Adams scored 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting against Nebraska. She is averaging about eight shots per game and remains one of several ongoing projects for coach Jim Foster.

“You’re changing a personality,” Foster said. “It’s working on the player becoming more assertive and aggressive and less passive. She’s a pleaser. She wants to pass you the ball. She gains more enjoyment from making a great pass than a basket.”

The Buckeyes need a complementary scorer to take pressure off senior guard Tayler Hill.

“Ashley has to assume the responsibility of wanting to score,” Foster said. “We need her to take 12 to 15 shots.”

Foster also is hearing criticism about the team’s unexpected free fall.

“Whether you’re in first place or last place, it’s the nature of fandom,” he said. “Obviously, when you’re not in first place, there are more (critics). That’s part of the maturing process for kids. You have to deal with it as you continue to grow.”

He called Friday’s practice “a great one.”

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Foster said. “What are the detail things you could have done to make you better? To this group’s credit, in the moment of practice, they are coachable. Now carry it over to the game.”